Anyway, I took the tray off last week to remove some mounts from the chassis rail, the middle tray mounts werent being used, and they were in the way of the mudflaps , so I cut them off.
Also, I put some more galv, chain on the back of the tray with a small D shackle, and some on the bottom of the mudflaps, so I can now lift the mudflaps up out of the way when wheeling.
I also moved the rear recovery hooks from where they were on the outside of the chassis rails, to the inside of them, so they are out of the way now too.

I was hoping to get back down to Son Of Trials again this year, to see if I could be competetive, but due to me having no money, it wasnt looking good, and Mrs D was really looking forward to going again, so she might be paying for us to go so I can compete.

SOT is this weekend, and if we are going, I have to make a decision today or tomorrow, so I can pack the car Thursday, and we can leave on Friday.
Cutting it fine, I know.

We didnt end up going to SOT, I just started a new job last week, and Im back on arvos again, so we just stayed at home. It kinda sucks, becasue we were both looking forward to it.
So today Mrs D suggested we go wheeling, our older 3 kids were elsewhere for the weekend, so it was just our 2 young kidlets that came with us in the Lux. Not much else was going on so we headed for the bush.
We headed out to Wyee, not hard tracks, just some easy stuff to fill the day, some little ruts and puddles, and a couple of little climbs, the kids enjoyed themselves, and we came out at Morisset.
Then we headed to the quarry at Freemans Waterhole, and I had a play in there for a while.
After we left the quarry, we took the kids to The Oak Roadhouse just up the road from the quarry, and we got the kids an ice-cream, which they both ended up wearing.
Once the ice-creams were gone, we came home.
A great way of using an otherwise boring Sunday. Everybody enjoyed themselves.

Im using the Swampers as daily tyres at the moment, because my 35in Claws arent behaving on the road, they tend to wander all over the road, so its not much fun, or too safe to use. The Swampers are surprisingly great on the road, they handle well at highway pressures, and make the Lux feel quite nice to drive. The Swampers are just very very noisy onroad, but I can live with that.

Mrs D got a few pics of me in the quarry.

I parked up on this bank, still standard springs, shackles and shocks.

And the tyre did some panelbeating on the passenger side guard again

You can see my rear mudflaps under the tray, hanging right up out of harms way, I reckon theyll be safe there.

It happens every time I go out now.
It started a year ago at Son Of Trials, the swampers I borrowed did the same thing, to the same spot.
And its been happening everytime since, its just a sign that I need to move my diff forward, and finally do the RUF.

And since Im working again, Im on the lookout for a new body shell to replace the red one, its got alot of rust in it, in places that really cant be fixed properly, so if anyone knows of a 84-88 dual cab Lux shell, in good condition, let me know.

Got a little bit of an update, I recently sold off the V8 conversion gear, so after I paid the bills, I spent some money buying some goodies for the Lux.

I bought a turbo kit for my engine, a new clutch kit, some flashy new gauges so I can keep an eye on what the engine is doing, some bling new LED taillights for the tray Im about to start, and I picked up a 4.8 diff centre(just need to find another one.

Once I find another 4.8, Ill be ordering myself a pair of Lockrights(auto lockers) and fitting them to the centres.
Im going to get a compression test done this week so I can find out how healthy the engine is, and if it comes back all good, which it should, then the turbo kit will be bolted on.
And Ill be buying myself all the bits needed to run a 3inch exhaust from the turbo all the way back.

I still havent fitted the suspension or steering, but i will get to that sooner or later.

Im still hunting for a dual cab shell in good condition, as mine keeps getting worse. If anyone knows of one anywhere for sale, please let me know.

Well, I found a cab, and it didnt take me that long, and its in good nick too.

I bought a 1984 dual cab from a guy in Toowoomba, and me and my brother went up to pick it up yesterday, it was a mission though, roughly a 26hr round trip, we only stopped for fuel, food, to load up the Lux, and for a nap on the way home.

Its pretty much stock standard, got a 2.4diesel, a tub on the back, big roof racks, alloy bullbar, arb style rear bar, checkerplate type sidesteps, and a set of near new 31inch ATs. A little bit of surface rust on it, but no real bad rust spots on it.

The guy that had previously owned it had an arb turbo kit fitted to it, but removed the turbo, manifold and dump-pipe before selling it, but the 2 3/4inch exhaust was still fitted, and the guy I bought it from told me that it leaks alot of oil from what he beleives is a hole in the block, and when I lifted the bonnet up to see the engine, I noticed that the oil filter was stuck between the diff pumpkin and the sump, which Id say, is where the oil is leaking from. I also noticed that the roof lining had mould on it, so I assume that it got some water in it during the recent floods up there, but the guy knew nothing about water inside the cab.

We loaded it up and brought it home, and I spent all afternoon pulling out the interior, and once I lifted the vinyl flooring, I knew that it has had water inside recently, as the underfelt stuff was soaked, so Ive started to clean up the floor.
I got most of it done today, and found a little bit of surface rust starting to come up from the water.

So the plan is to thoroughly clean the interior, treat any rust with killrust or similar, and respray. And to sand back the outside of the cab, deal with any rust areas I may find, and respray it too.

Then Ill be doing a cab swap, and fitting the new suspension/shocks/steering, as well as fitting the turbo and exhaust while the cab is off and we can get to the chassis easily.
Then, once the cab is on, and its all done, the 4.8 centres will be fitted with Lockrights and added to the Lux. Ill run the tub for while, until I get sick of it, and build a steel tray.

Then the next job will be doing some barwork on it, front bar, sliders, tray, and exo cage(to protect the body, as I now know how hard it is to find a LN65 dual cab body in decent condition).

Anyway, enough talk, heres a couple of pics I got before we unloaded it at home. Yes there is a shitload of oil on the trailer, it all came from where the oil filter is supposed to be

The engine, I beleive its a sidecam 2L, compared to the engine in my red one, which is a OHC 2L. Ive had a good look around the engine and havent found any holes in the block, apart from where the manifold and oil filter used to be.

What I got done yesterday arvo, some bugger has borrowed my paint scraper, and havent returned it, so Im using a flathead screwdriver to scrape up the crap left from when I pulled out the vinyl flooring. I might just cover the dash in plastic and genri the floor tomorrow, to save alot of time and effort. Then I can killrust any spots that need it, and give the inside a respray.

I have attacked the inside a little bit since my last update.
Last week, I put a tarp over the dash, and gernied the inside to try and clean it all up, it didnt work as good as Id hoped.
So, on saturday just gone, I used wax and grease remover and cleaned up the floor, made it nice and shiny, then I wire brushed the surface rust under the pedals on the drivers side floor, and I found more rust holes, only a few, and only little, it still seems to be in good nick though.

So I wet sanded the rusty area, then treated with rust dissolver, and then painted on 2 coats of rust converter and primer.

Im going to go to the 4wd wreckers near my place and find a decent piece of floor pan, to cut out and bring home, then Im going to cut the rusty section out of the yellow one, and weld in the good piece of floor.

Im also going to pull out the dash tomorrow, so I can clean under it, and see if theres any surprises under there waiting for me.

Once the interior has been cleaned up, and had all the rusty bits seen to, Ill throw in some colour.

Im still not sure what colour Ill paint it yet, I am thinking either a cananry yellow, or a darkish red(like what Ive got now), maybe a nice blue colour.